


Ventus and the Lemonade Stand

by Fangirl_Shenanigans



Category: Kingdom Hearts
Genre: 5+1 Things, Friendship, Gen, Summer, Ven is precious, lemonade
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-06-17
Updated: 2016-06-17
Packaged: 2018-07-15 15:57:15
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,534
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7228993
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Fangirl_Shenanigans/pseuds/Fangirl_Shenanigans
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Five times someone couldn't tell Ventus his lemonade was too sour and the one time where someone tells him and helps him fix it.</p><p>A 5 and 1 fic set in a POST-KHIII AU.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Ventus and the Lemonade Stand

**Author's Note:**

> This story was inspired by my cousin who gave me the prompt 'Lemonade' when I asked for a prompt to apply to my BBS babies. Ven got the idea to make a lemonade stand.
> 
> In case there is any confusion about what Lea means when referring to Terra, in my AUs Terra still has the long silver hair and tanned skin but his facial structure, ears, and eyes are back to normal (basically for face he got the stolen years back).

**Disclaimer: I do not own Kingdom Hearts or any of the characters, settings, or ideas produced by this game franchise. All rights belong to Disney Interactive and Square Enix, no monetary gain is made from this story.**

* * *

 

**0: Prologue**

Ven was excited, he'd gotten the all clear to use the castle kitchens to make several batches of lemonade provided Dilan was in the kitchens to monitor him. Luckily Dilan didn't think he needed too much supervision for lemonade. It had taken Ven a while to get used to the idea that Dilan wasn't as scary as his appearance suggested. Dilan turned out to be relatively calm unless Terra set foot in his kitchen. Ven has seen this man physically toss Terra on his shoulder and remove him from the kitchen for something as simple as wanting an apple. Terra still got the apple, but only because Dilan tossed one a bit after putting him back down. It made Ven smile to know that there were some people who could reprimand Terra and not hurt his feelings.

 

"Dilan, about how many lemons per batch?"

 

"A good rule of thumb is roughly four lemons per gallon pitcher." Dilan replied over his shoulder, not checking if Ven knew a gallon pitcher from a half-gallon pitcher. The lancer figured if Terra at least knew his way around the kitchenware (even if he was a walking field of destruction for kitchens everywhere without meaning to be) that Ventus should as well.

 

Ven puzzled and looked at the array of pitchers wondering which one was one gallon. Figuring it was the tall cylindrical ones he started on his lemonade project. After about an hour he had ten cylindrical pitchers of lemonade. It was time to set up shop and earn munny to spend at the festival that weekend!

 

**1: Lea**

Lea was exhausted and overheated; he had just spent two hours of field training and got his words served back to him on earthenware. Terra was not the pushover he thought he would be given that the man had been the first vessel of Xehanort. Lea had assumed it meant he was too weak, being overtaken by an old man after all. Terra hadn't even lost his temper, he was in complete focus and wiped the floor with Lea. It was little wonder why Sora said 'Judging by how his armor fought me I'd be extremely careful Lea'. In typical fashion of well, himself, he didn't listen to the warning. In hindsight he should have known how strong the other man was: he was Xemnas's true original and it kind of showed (no, literally, the long mostly silver tresses still framed his face even if his eyes were a friendly blue).

 

"Maybe some lemonade will help?"

 

Lea jumped a bit before noticing Ventus behind a little lemonade stand, complete with a sign and several pre-poured styrofoam cups of iced lemonade. Lea looked at the sign and felt a little bad when he saw how little the blond was charging: 1 Munny. It would take him forever to build enough to play with at the festival. Most things were 25 munny or higher. 25 being a good starting point. Lea calmed and smirked.

 

"So, setting up a lemonade stand in this heat, did you remember to wear sunscreen this time?"

 

"S-shut up Lea! I just asked if you thought lemonade would help you cool off!" Ven flustered, trying to hard to forget the real reason he always made sure to wear sunscreen now.

 

"All right, all right, keep your shirt on." Lea laughed. "I'll tell you what, if you bump your prices to at least 10 munny per cup I'll buy one. That way you actually save up a good amount by this weekend."

 

Ventus thought about it, Terra had given him similar advice but Terra also said that the games were free to play, food was usually cheap but good and that souvenir stands were where munny was usually spent in more quantity. Maybe the two had a point.

 

"Okay! So you'll buy one?"

 

"I said I would or did you forget already?" Lea teased, paying the 10 munny as Ven offered him the cup then edited the sign to include a green zero after the one.

 

"Thank you!"

 

It wasn't until he'd walked away after his initial sip that Lea cringed and spat it out when he wasn't in front of the younger male. Green eyes looked at the cup like it had offended him.

 

"What the blazes...that is some strongly sour lemonade...oh, I can't just tell the kid that. Ven would make that crushed puppy face. I'll just pretend I didn't dislike it, not like I'll need to buy another cup. Let him keep his good day."

 

**2: Leon**

It was a sweltering day, one of the few days where Leon decided to forgo wearing his typical leather clothes in favor of a white tee shirt and some black cotton jeans. Radiant Garden had its fair share of dramatic weather changes, he'd grown up with them until the Heartless fiasco. Leon could remember watching apprentice Xehanort withering under the sun miserably like he wasn't used to the climate, which to be fair now that he'd heard from Terra what his world was like he couldn't blame him. Land of Departure had an almost permanent spring climate so it never got higher than maybe 70 degrees at the most. Radiant Garden has had cases of 90 degrees, most of those days everyone stayed indoors until after five when it cooled down.

 

Leon was patrolling with Aqua, whom he sent down near the bailey while he checked the housing districts. Leon liked the blue-haired woman; Aqua was smart and very quick to learn the pathways of Radiant Garden as well as a capable fighter. Aqua's one shortcoming was her paranoia that if she didn't monitor 'her boys' that they'd disappear, even though he completely understood why she felt that way he didn't appreciate seeing just how on edge her constant checking in on Terra made the man. Luckily after his one explosion Aqua had reigned it in realizing she was driving him crazy.

 

Terra was generally quiet and disciplined but had a good sense of humor. The keyblade wielder was also a fantastic sparring partner despite all his reservations since becoming himself. Leon viewed him as a brother of sorts who needs a bit of coaxing once in a while and had no doubt that if left to his own devices he would shut down from the overload of nightmares.

 

Ventus, the last of the trio of 'newbies' as Yuffie had dubbed them, was possibly the sweetest kid he'd met apart from Sora. Ven's zest for life made him impossible to dislike, even Cloud could budge a genuine smile for the ball of energy that was Ventus. Unlike Terra or Aqua, Ven seemed to have the least issues with being apart from the other two. Ven's main issue was sleeping through the night. Thinking of Ven, he noticed the boy and his impromptu lemonade stand and smiled. It had been years since he'd seen something as simple as a lemonade stand.

 

"Good morning Leon!" Ven called over with a excited wave. Leon walked over with a chuckle. Ven really was all energy.

 

"You realize it's noon right? So, lemonade stand is making a comeback?"

 

"Yeah! I want to save up munny for the festival this weekend. Aqua was hired as part of the decoration committee and Terra has been doing odd jobs around town after getting clearance from Ansem the Wise. We're planning to enjoy at least most of the food that will be served and then we decided we wanted to have enough left over to drop by the different souvenir booths." Ven replied excitedly. Leon noticed that the jar for collecting munny already had a 10 munny contribution. It was a perfect price for a beverage and it was very hot out. What did he have to lose by buying a cup for himself and for Cid who was trying to fix the cooling systems in Merlin's house?

 

"I'll take one for myself and Cid. That should be 20 munny. I wish you the best with your lemonade Ventus."

 

Ven beamed like the sun as he opened the jar so Leon could drop the munny inside then carefully handed him two of the styrofoam cups. Leon took a sip and nearly choked it was so sour, like there were too many lemons squeezed for the lemonade.

 

"Is something wrong?"

 

Leon didn't have the heart to tell the boy that the lemonade was far too strong, and managed a smile instead.

 

"No, nothing's wrong. I just forgot what real lemonade is like and remembered. Thanks."

 

Leon knew if he gave Cid his share that he'd soon have a spear that had spent twelve years disguised as a mop right under his throat. Cid would probably have told Ven the truth. Light knows the man had no reservations tearing into Terra for not speaking up sooner on certain topics.

 

**3: Isa**

It was still a strange feeling, having a heart once more. Just the realization he was Isa and no longer Saix was still disconcerting. As Isa he could openly speak his mind again, had even managed to start recovering from the nightmares of what he had become. It was odd, becoming friends with the man who had been trapped inside Xemnas for several years. Terra was different than Lea, was more similar in nature to himself but still different enough to not be boring. Ventus was the surprise, the boy had gotten into their hearts long ago and in a way he had never truly left. Isa didn't see Roxas when he looked at Ventus, he just saw the same 'stray puppy' Lea had 'adopted'. Isa was interuppted from his musing when he noticed that Lea was approaching and looked guilty and disgusted at the same time.

 

"What I wouldn't have given to see that look on your face when we were younger." Isa teased as Lea stopped in front of him. Lea's expression turned into a smirk of challenge.

 

"Here, try that and you'll know what it takes."

 

Isa looked down at the seemingly innocent cup of lemonade, or he assumed it was lemonade, it smelled very strongly of lemons after all. Deciding Lea wouldn't try to poison him he took a small sip and winced minutely, it was very strong and unsweetened. Most people wouldn't be able to drink it, but Isa preferred unsweetened drinks, just not drinks this potent.

 

"Where on earth did you get this concoction masquerading as lemonade?"

 

"Ventus has a lemonade stand...I don't have the courage to tell him that the lemonade ain't that good. I can tell he worked hard to make it himself. If Dilan had made it there'd be sugar in it for one thing." Lea replied, waving in the general direction he'd come from. Isa returned the cup and silently headed to investigate, ten years of recon missions left him with the curiosity of a cat. A fact Terra had pointed out on more than one occasion with a chuckle, though he was a fine one to talk when it came to curiosity of late.

 

The first thing Isa noticed was the structure of the lemonade stand, a basic setup of wood painted a soft inviting green with a sign held about two and a half feet above the main stand reading in a complementary color simply 'Lemonade' with a little circle hanging below it on a popsicle stick that read in red and green '10m', the 0 clearly not originally part of the sign. So, the lemonade was sold at 10 munny per cup. It was a good price that literally about anyone could easily afford and it was a good time of year to set up the shop. The next thing he noticed was that so far only a few cups seemed to have been sold, meaning either Ven had just set up or was bad at advertising. Isa very much doubted that anyone was telling the boy it was too sour...himself included.

Instead he swallowed and approached and before Ven could say anything to the effect of 'hello' he had deposited 30 munny into the jar and asked for three lemonades. While Isa was not going to inform him it was too sour, he knew one of his target recipients of the other two beverages would indeed tell his friend.

 

**4: Tifa**

Tifa drooped a bit over the table in front of Merlin's house, the umbrella doing little to control the heat but it beat staying inside when Cid was getting frustrated trying to repair the cooling unit. The air conditioner hadn't needed to be turned on until today and it decided to stop working after only five minutes of cool air. Cid had been working on it for a while now. Yuffie had wisely been off world at the Coliseum for a tournament with Cloud.

 

"You look as if you could use something to drink Tifa, why don't you head out to the Town Square? I heard that one of the kids set up a lemonade stand." Cid spoke, walking out wiping his face with a hand towel. Tifa thought about it, lemonade used to be one of her favorite summertime staples and she could suffer a bit of heat to get to some.

 

"Sounds like a plan, want me to bring you one too?"

 

"Nah, I'm fixin' to stick to water until I'm done working. Just takin' a break so I don't screw up in my aggravation." Cid replied, he had gotten much better about keeping his temper from what she could recall when they were younger. Cid's patience level of late was just shy of saintly when it came to dealing with people who weren't Merlin. Raising three kids must've mellowed him out. Tifa gave a nod and made a sprint for town square. Tifa's lips stretched into a smile when she noticed Ventus was the owner of the inviting little stand.

 

"I give you major points for being out here in this heat just to sell lemonade Ven."

 

"Oh! Hi, Tifa. Did you want a cup? So far I think I'm doing pretty good, I've already had three customers and managed to earn 50 munny." Ven was so happy with himself, at first he was worried no one would want lemonade.

 

"That's great! Yeah, I'm here to contribute."

 

Tifa happily accepted the cup and quickly downed it, not noticing the taste so much as the chilled refreshing feel of it down her throat. Tifa smiled and ruffled his hair.

 

"Keep up the good work, I may drop by again if I need another cool down."

 

"Thank you!" Ven replied, waving as she walked off. Today was going so good!

 

  
**5: Aqua**

Aqua tried desperately not to choke on the beverage Isa had offered her, Terra had wisely downed it so it didn't actually register. Almost like he knew it would be sour.

 

"We need to tell him it's too sour. If someone doesn't he won't be able to sell to the 'normal' citizens when they come outside." Terra said, matter-of-factly. Terra was far more familiar with what could be handled in Radiant Garden than she was. Despite most of his time being trapped inside gazing out, he had clearly gotten a good feel for the people and customs.

 

"Let me tell him, if you do it he might feel crushed. Like the time you told him his cookies were bitter."

 

"They were! Burnt chocolate is bitter!" Terra defended, cheeks puffing up a bit.

 

Isa knew his work was done as he left them to decide how to tell Ventus he needed to revise his lemonade. It was best to let one who knew the boy best to deal with such a task.

 

Aqua smiled nervously as she approached Ven's lemonade stand, part of her rebelling at the idea of telling him the truth. Afraid Ven would view even her telling him about his lemonade as a rejection.

 

"Aqua! Are you going to try my lemonade too?"

 

Aqua knew she was done for as she smiled, agreed, and actually bought another cup of lemonade. Terra would never let her live this down, but at least Ven was still smiling and having fun.

 

**+1: Terra**

This needed to end, the whole lying to Ven about the lemonade. If it was going to end then Terra himself would have to tell him the truth. It also meant retracing Ven's steps to find out where he went wrong. If he was going to correct Ven's mistake he needed to know when it started, which meant: sneak into the kitchens to investigate when Dilan isn't in there to catch him.

 

Terra had learned many useful things while trapped inside his own body, including how to bide his time and strategize. Terra knew almost everybody's schedule so he could always find someone when he needed them but wouldn't inconvenience them. An example was that right now Dilan was on duty guarding the main entrance to the castle with Aeleus and didn't get off shift for a good while yet. Terra felt a little guilty about sneaking around, but this was for Ven's sake! Once he slipped past the threshold of the kitchen he looked around and found exactly what he was looking for, the dishes. Terra noted there were no gallon containers dirty; that didn't bode well. Upon further inspection he found that all the pitchers in the sink soaking were half-gallon and that there were far too many lemon pieces in the garbage to have been appropriate for the containers used for mixing. Ven had used too many lemons per batch!

 

Getting back out of the kitchen was harder when he noticed the doorway blocked by Dilan who had come back in for a glass of water for himself and Aeleus. Terra was sure to hide out of sight and winced when his hand scraped against a knife that must have fallen to the floor when he was looking through the dishes. Terra barely stifled the yelp, unfortunately he was caught quite easily when a shadow hovered over him.

 

"I honestly can't leave this kitchen unattended can I? What were you looking for this time dare I ask? Apples were moved to the dining room. What is your explanation?" Dilan asked easily hoisting the younger man out from his hiding place and pulling him by wrist to the sink where he started running water over the cut to Terra's palm. Terra sighed, knowing he wasn't going to get out of answering.

 

"I was finding out where Ven went wrong with his lemonade. I wanted to be able to tell him where he went wrong so he'd know how he could fix it. Ven used four lemons for a half-gallon so the lemonade is too sour for most people to drink it."

 

"That sounds like something you could have asked someone less prone to kitchen mishaps to assist you with instead of relying on Xemnas's sneaking skills. I'll forget it this time because you managed not to destroy the kitchen, but make sure to drop by Even to have that looked at later." Dilan replied, Terra agreed and quickly took the sugar Dilan handed him to go try to salvage Ven's career as a lemonade salesperson.

 

Ven was humming when he heard Terra calling his name almost like he was out of breath, which he may have been when Ven saw him running towards him with what looked like a bag of sugar in his hands. Ven was confused but knew Terra likely had a reason for his behavior.

 

"What's up Terra? Why the sugar?"

 

"Ven, did you taste your lemonade before you set up?" Terra asked, needing to know if Ven had actually tasted his beverage. Ven looked startled, like the thought had never occurred to him.

 

"No, I didn't think I needed to."

 

Ven quickly tried a sip from one of the cups and squirmed uncomfortably, eyes closed as he forced himself to swallow the super sour beverage. Ven felt his eyes water as if he'd had overly spicy curry.

 

"I must have used the wrong lemon to water ratio. Is that why you brought the sugar? So we could try to salvage it? Wait...why did everyone else like it?"

 

"Ven, think about it. None of them wanted to hurt your feelings most likely, everyone kind of adores you. Now, let's fix this lemonade so you're ready for the real heavy business that starts in less than an hour." Terra replied.

 

Sure enough, with the addition of just the right amount of sugar to the large jug that housed the main supply of lemonade there was no more fearing how it tasted. Everyone who came by was happy to purchase several cups of Ven's lemonade now that it had been corrected, including the people who bought the original batch. Needless to say Ven got to try all the snacks that weekend he wanted including the chocolate covered fried funnel cake.

**END**


End file.
